Displaceable rotary furnace



April 30, 1940. K. R. GOHRE ET AL 2,198,870

DISPLACEABLE ROTARY FURNACE Filed March '7, 1939 Inventors.- 36 2% a9 25 [flu-[Rudolf GZre Pa u] J'oroan Patented Apr. 39, 1940 DISPLACEABLE ROTARY FURNACE Kurt Rudolf Gohre and Paul Jordan, Frankforton-the-Main, Germany, assignors to American Lurgi Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 7, 1939, Serial No. 260,248,

T In Germany March 9, 1938 7 Claims. (Cl. 263-46) The present invention relates to rotaryfurnaces, and, more particular1y,toa fuel-fired ro- It has been already proposed to employ rotary vide a rotary tubular furnace installation involv- 5 tubular furnacesequipped with gas, oil or coal ing a rotary tube adapted to be displaced into a T dust heating for carrying out various chemical plurality or parallel-spaced positionsand which and metallurgical operations such as the melting is capable of treating large quantities of charge and refining of metals and metallurgical prodmaterials.

ill ucts, the volatilization of metals, and for carry- Theinvention also contemplates a rotary tube ing out chemical treatments of various character. furnace installation involving regenerative cham- These tubular furnaces were generally provided bers which is simple in construction, eflicient and with openings in the sidej walls thereoffor the fool-proof in operation, and which may be inintroduction of material to be treated thereinto stalled andoperated at a low cost.

156i and for the removal of treated. materials there- Other and further objects and advantages of from. It was also suggested to provide. furnace theinvention will become apparent from the folheads of displaceable character, or to mount the lowing description taken in conjunction with the complete body of the furnace on a rotatable disc accompanying drawing in whichi T so that by the relative displacement of the fur- Fig; 1 illustrates a top elevational view of a nacebody and heads the furnace ports at the furnace installation embodying the principles of 20 ends thereof could be made free and the desired the present invention;

operations could begcarried out therethrough. Fig. 2 depicts a vertical sectional view some- To permit withdrawal of slag or the removal of what diagrammatic in character taken on. line the treated materials through the end-openings a--a of Fig. 1; i l

25. ofthe furnace, which also served for the intro- Fig. 3 shows a sideelevational view of the fur:

ductionof the heatingmedium and for the disnace embodying the invention in cooperating pocharge of the furnace gases, the furnaces were sition with one of the auxiliary furnace heads; T also frequently equipped with tilting devices. Fig. tillustrates an end elevation of the fur- Iilting of these furnaces was generally accomnace shown in Figs. 1 to 3 together with its sup- 80. plished by mounting the complete furnace inporting rollers andcarriage; and

eluding its supporting rollers and their frame on i Fig. 5 is a side elevational view ofthe furnace axles or the furnace was provided laterally or of theinvention in its tilted position.

under its supporting bearings with acradle or Broadly stated, according to the principles of similar supporting structure which was instruthe invention, a fuel-fired rotary furnace of the 35, mental in transmitting the tilting displacement tubular type is provided which including its sup to the furnace body proper. These conventional porting rollersis mounted on a supporting strucarrangements had the disadvantage that they ture. The furnaceis provided with openings or could not beemployed in a simpleandeconomiports located at both ends thereof. The supportcal manner for furnaces of large dimensions. As ing structure of thefurnace is mounted on wheels to a matter of fact, there were numerous cases when which can roll on rails so that the complete furthis type of constructioncould not be employed nace may be displaced in a direction vertical to i l at all. Thus, it was impossible to employ disits longitudinal axis for the purpose of charging,

, placeable furnace heads when it was desired to drawing slag, discharging and for carrying out preheat the combustion air, or the fuel gas, or other operations. Normally, the furnace has its LI both, by means of regenerative or recuperative ports resting between a. pair of stationary furchambers. T nace heads which may be connected with re- It is an object of the present invention to progenerative or recuperative chambers and are opvide a fuel-fired furnace of the rotary tubular erated whenit is desired to. obtain very high typewhich. eliminates the disadvantages and intemperatures, as is the case, for example, when S0, conveniences of these conventional furnace inmelting down an ore or metal. During other stallations. T T '1 operations, suchv as when drawing slag, charging It is another object of the present invention and discharging the furnace, no high temperato provide a fuel-fired rotary tubular furnace of tures are needed. However, especially during novel and improved character which makes it charging, which always requires some time, it is tary furnace of displaceable character for carry- T ing out chemical and metallurgical operations.

T possible to carry out all chemical or metallurgical operations desired in the treatment of the materials contemplated in a simple, efficient and foolproof manner. i

It is a further object of the invention to proadvantageous to heat the furnace even in its position when it is removed fromthe main furnace heads. According to the invention, this is accomplished by means of auxiliary heating devices and auxiliary furnace heads.

Generally speaking, for reasons of heat economy, the furnaces contemplated by the invention have an accentuated length and consequently have to be charged from both ends in view of the fact that the length of the charging arms or devices is insufficient for introducing the chargematerial throughout the full length of the furnace. Therefore, it is'preferred to successively charge the furnace from both ends. For example, the furnace may first be displaced into cooperating position with an auxiliary furnace head disposed at the left end thereof while an auxiliary burner or heating device is introduced through the upper portion of the right end of the furnace in such a position that it does not interfere with the introduction of the charging device from the same end. After the right half of the furnace has been charged, the furnace is again displaced into another parallel-spaced position in which its right end is in alignment with a second auxiliary furnace head, while another burner and another charging device are introduced into the furnace from the left end thereof. Preferably, both auxiliary furnace heads are in communica tion with the regenerative chambers on the side of the furnace in order to introduce the hot furnace gases into the regenerative chambers and thereby to prevent undesirable cooling of. said chambers. This communication is established by means of suitable channelsor conduits provided between the main furnace heads and the auxil iary heads and through which the flow of gases may be controlledby means of dampers or slide valves.

For the purpose of carrying out certainopera- .tions such as discharging the contents of the furnace, drawing slag, and the like, it is advantageous to tilt the furnace in a vertical plane.

This tilting displacement about a horizontal axis at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the furnace may be accomplished by providing an upward inclination of one of the rails upon which the furnace is laterally displaced and in some cases also providing a downward inclination of the other one of such rails. Thus, when the furnace on its wheeled carriage is'rolled to this inclined portion of the rails, it will be automatically tilted. The other ends of the rails may be provided with inclinations of opposite directionso that the furnace will be tilted in the opposite sense when laterally displaced into its other exreme position. The tilting of the furnace structure is also advantageous during the charging operation, in order to introduce the charge material 'from a platform into the furnace in its inclined position. It is also possible to providea platform of a pivotally mounted character to further facilitate carrying out the charging operation.

Referring-now more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, reference character i denotes the body of the furnace cooperating with main stationary furnace heads 2 and 3 which are respectively connectedwith regenerative chambers i and ii and 5 and l which serve for preheating the gas and the combustion air, and for M and with auxiliary burner I2, while reference.

character 9 denotes the furnace shown in broken lines as displaced into cooperating'position with auxiliary furnace head If) and auxiliary burner 13. Auxiliary furnace head if is connected to regenerative chambers 4 and 5 by means of con- Fig. 2 illustrates furnace I in cooperating posi tion with the main furnace heads 2 and 3 and regenerative chambers 5 and l which serve for preheating the fuel gas and the combustion air and for recoveringthe heat of the furnace gases,

respectively. Supporting rolls 28 and their associated frame are mounted on a supporting frame or carriage 2! provided with rollers or wheels 22 and 23 which can roll on rails 24- and 25. Fig. 3 depicts furnace body I in one of its laterally displaced positions in which it is in cooperation with auxiliary furnace head H, auxiliary burner l2 and charging machine or carriage 18.

As it will be best observed from Fig. 4, two wheels or rollers 22 and 26 are provided at one side ofv the supporting frameor carriage 2i and only one wheel or roller 23 is provided opposite to the same. Fig. 4 also clearly indicates the up-. wardly and downwardly inclined arrangement of the rails, rail 24 having an upward inclination, and rail 25 having a. downward inclinaton. In all figures the driving means of the supporting rolls of the furnace have been omitted for the sake of simplicity. g V Fig. 5. shows the furnace in "the inclined position resting on the inclined portions of rails 34.

and25 beyond the furnace heads. Reference character 2'! denotes a disc or roller rotatably; mounted on the lower portion of furnace carriage.

2! which is engaged by inclined rails 28 and 29 to prevent sliding .offof the furnace from rails 24 and 25 in the lateral direction.

- On the upper portion of carriage 2| are rotatably mounted rollers 33 and 3| which in the inclined position of the furnace engage the runners, of the furnace body. -When the furnace is tilted to the left, roller 3|, when the furnace is tilted to the right, roller 30 will take up the lateral stressesand will prevent the furnacefro-m sliding off from its supporting rollers. illustrates a charging platform 32'which is pivotally mounted at its frontedge in ,:pivots 33. The othertend of platform 32 may, be lifted up by means of a set of pulleys 34 whereby the charge material resting on the platform may be caused to slide into the furnace through charging spout 35. The treatedmaterial or residue may be discharged from the furnace into a bucket or ladle 36 which 'is preferably mounted. on wheels. 1

From the preceding descriptionthe operation of the improved furnace installation will be readily understood by those skilled. in the art. Assuming that the contents'of the furnace have just been discharged in the. inclined position thereof (Fig. 5) new charge material is first introduced into the furnace by means of pivotally ing spout. Hereafter, the furnace is displaced...

Fig. 5v also.

x1; ing, device [8. After the right half of the furagain be displaced into cooperative position with,

forexample, in front of auxiliary head-ll,: damper 16 of conduit I4 is openedand the auxiliary burner I2" is introduced into thefurnace;

The furnace is now charged by means of chargnace hasbeensufficiently chargedgdamper I6 is closed and: the furnace is laterally displacedbeforeauxiliary furnace head 10. Damper IT in conduit I is opened and the other auxiliary burner l3is placed into operation. This is fol-3 lowedjby charging the left side of the furnace by] means of charging device l9; After also this charging operation has been finished, burner 13 remove-d, damper I1 is shut and the furnace body'is displaced on its carriage ,between main furnace. heads 2, and 3 and the main heating means are actuated through regenerative cha n bers 4, 5 and 6, 1, respectively. At thesameftime 1 the furnace is rotated around its longitudinal axis; in theconvention manner. Thisis continued untilthe charge is melted down or until the desired chemical or metallurgical treatment is finished. In order to carry out special treatments such as poling orrefining ofcoppenaddition of desulfurizing and refiningagerits and of alloying constituents in steel production, the furnace may one of the auxiliary furnaceheads l0 or II, and,

if necessary, may be heated by means of auxiliary burners I2 or l3. Finally, the furnace'may be again, displaced into its inclined position for withdrawingthe material therefrom into a buck- 1 et or ladle mounted on wheels.

Although the present invention has beend escribed in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof, variations and modifications may beresorted to by those skilled in the art without departing from the principles of the present invention. I consider all of these variations and modifications as within the true spirit and scope of the present invention as disclosed in the forc going description and defined by the appended claims.

We claim: n

1. In a rotary furnace for carrying out chemical and metallurgical operations, the combination i comprising a rotatable chamber, ports located at f both ends thereof, means for rotatably supporting said chamber, means for laterally displacing said chamber, a plurality of stationary main furnace heads adapted to cooperate with said chamber in predetermined positions thereof, and a plurality of auxiliary devices including auxiliary furnace heads, auxiliary burners, charging and casting devices adapted to cooperate with said chamber in other predetermined positions thereof.

2. In a rotary furnace for carrying out chemic cal and metallurgical operations, the combination comprising a rotatable chamber, ports located at both ends thereof, means for rotatably,

supportingsaid chamber, a wheeled carriage, for

carrying said rotatably mounted chamber and being adapted to be rolled on rails to laterally displace said chamber into a plurality of positions, a pair of main furnace heads adapted to cooperate with said ports in a predetermined position of said chamber for passing heating gases longitudinally through said chamber, regenerative chambers connected to each of said main furnace heads for preheating said gases,

and a plurality of auxiliary devices including, auxiliary furnace heads, auxiliary burners,

charging and casting devices adapted to comined positions thereof. 1

3. In a rotary furnace forcarryingout chemical and metallurgicaloperations, the combination comprising a rotatable chamber, ports cated at both ends thereof, means for rotating operate with said chamberin other predetersaid chamber around the horizontal axis thereof means for laterallyldisplacing said chamber in a direction perpendicular to said axis, a pair of stationary main furnace heads adapted toregister with the ports in said chamber in a pr'edetermined lateral position thereof for-passing heating gases longitudinally therethrough, regenerative.

chambers connected to each of said furnace heads for preheating said gasesand for recovering heat therefrom, an auxiliary furnace head provided at each end of said chamber in staggered position respectively connected to said main furnace heads, means for controlling the flow of gases from said auxiliary heads to said.

main furnace heads, andan auxiliary burner op,-

posite to each of said auxiliary heads and adapt- ,ed to cooperate therewith to passheating gases through said chamber in other predetermined positionsthereofu it 4. In a rotary furnace for carrying out chemical and metallurgical operations, the combination comprising a rotatable chamber, ports located at both ends thereof, means for rotating said chamber around the horizontal axis thereof, means including a Wheeled supporting carriage and a pair of rails for laterally displacing said predetermined positions thereof, said pair of rails supporting said wheeled carriage having at least one portion in which the rails have a different elevation to cause tilting displacement of said carriage and of said chamber.

5. In a rotary furnace for carrying out chemition comprising a rotatable chamber, ports located at both ends thereof, means for rotating said chamber around the horizontal axisthereof,

cal andmetallurgical operations, the combina means including a wheeled supporting carriage and a pair of rails for laterally displacing said chamber in a direction perpendicular to said axis,

l a pair of stationary main furnace heads adapted to register with the ports in said chamber in a predetermined lateral position thereof for passing heating gases longitudinally therethrough, a

plurality of auxiliary devices including auxiliary furnace heads, auxiliary burners, charging and casting machines adapted to cooperate with said chamber in other predetermined positions thereof, said pair of rails having at least one portion in which the rails have a different elevation to cause tilting displacement of said carriage and of said chamber, and means operative in the tilted,

position of said chamber to prevent sliding off of said carriage from said rails.

6. In a rotary furnace for carrying out chemical and metallurgical operations, the combination comprising a rotatable chamber, ports 10- cated at both ends thereof, a wheeled carriage for supporting said chambenmeans for rotating said chamber around its horizontal axis, means including rails for the wheels of said carriage for laterally displacing said chamber in a direction perpendicular to said axis,v a pair ofijstationary main furnace heads adapted to: cooperate with. said ports in a predetermined position of said chamber for passing heating. gases longitudinally through saidchamber and to heat said chamber tohigh temperatures, an auxiliary furnace head located in staggered position at each end of saidchamber and respectively'connectect to said main furnace heads, a displaceable charging: device at eachv end of. said, chamber for alternately charg-- ing; said chamber from both ends thereof, and an auxiliary burner opposite to each auxiliary fur- J? cated at both ends thereof, a Wheeled carriage for supporting said chamber, means including a plurality of runners and rollers for rotating said chamber around its horizontal axis, a pair of rails for the wheels of said carriage for lat- J' erally displacing said chamber in a direction perpendicular to-sai'd axisgsaid rails having at least one. alternately inclined portion to cause tilting of saidchamber', a pair of stationary main fur passing heating gaseslongitudinally through said chamber, an auxiliary furnace head located in staggered position at each end of saidchamber and respectively connected to said main furnace heads, an auxiliary burner opposite to each auxiliary furnace head and adapted tocooperate nace heads adapted to register with said ports in a predetermined position of said chamber for therewith in vother predetermined positions of said chamber, a disk rotatably mounted on the:

lower portion of said carriage in a substantially horizontal plane,. a pair of supporting railslaterallyengaging the circumference of said. disk in the tilted positionof said carriage to prevent sliding, off of said carriage from its rails, and a plurality of rollers rotatably mounted on me upper portion. of said carriage and adapted. to laterally engage the runners or said. chamber to maintam thesame, on its su pp0rt1ng rollers inv the tilted position thereof. 7

KURT RUDOLF GGHRE, PAULJ oRDA-N. 

